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Post Mortem

The CAB: Hinduism Tsunami

By Nagaland Post | Publish Date: 12/17/2019 9:38:06 AM IST

India is the greatest democratic nation in the world. It is democratic because of the pioneers of the nation adopted the secular and inclusive principles in the Constitution of India. Under the protective secular provisions, the religious minorities have been surviving in the midst of 84% Hindu majority in peaceful coexistence despite the history of the last 72 years being marred by communal mishaps from time to time.

The Citizen Amendment Bill (CAB) is no more a bill now as the Indian Parliaments have enacted CAB into a law to which the President of India has already assented to it, and it is now called Citizenship Amendment Act(CAA). Under the CAA, those of the Hindus in particular who had landed in India from foreign countries prior to December, 2014 and yet to be registered as Indian citizens will be granted the citizenship. In my belief, the registration agencies may not be very strict but they will be more casual and with or without documentary support for the antecedents of the applicants, the citizenship will be granted. If at all so, the set date line will be immaterial. The casual process of registration will enable any such Hindu foreigner who landed from Bangladesh, for instance, yesterday will be accordingly naturalized. I also do not believe that the CAA was enacted for the registration solely for those Hindus living in India without Indian citizenship prior to December, 2014. If so, the question is, will the CAA be co-terminal with that of the process of registration of the targeted group? The CAA will remain henceforth despite the opposition from the people of NE and the marginalized Muslim community as I believe. The CAA is therefore the welcome gate for more Hindus in lakhs from Bangladesh and Pakistan which indeed is the floodgate against the religious minorities in India. When all the Hindus from foreign countries are permitted to come to India, it may have the devastating impact of a tsunami against the minorities. Such is the aspiration of BJP which is legalized and the CAA is the threat to minority communities.

To rescue the suffering Hindus who have been under the alleged religious persecution in the neighbour countries such as Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, the CAA was enacted. Should the alleged persecutions in those countries be true, the reaction of GOI in salvaging the fellow Hindus is humane. Whereas, while doing justice to Hindus in India and to more Hindus coming from abroad, much injustice is done to the indigenous people of the NE India and the other religious minorities in the country.

Has BJP considered the indigenous people of NE and the other minority communities in India obsolete? Is BJP thinking to replace the sons of the soil in NE India with the migrated Hindus? Has BJP considered the indigenous communities in NE India a liability to the GOI?

To what extent the State of Nagaland will be protected from the ramifications of CAA in the name of exemption? Will the exemption debar those Indians whose citizenship are registered under CAA elsewhere from coming to Nagaland? If not, what this exemption will eventually benefit Nagaland? I am not yet convinced that such exemption with which the Govt. of Nagaland is satisfied and for which the MPs from Nagaland voted for CAB can ever protect Nagaland from the massive influx of outsiders into Nagaland.

What is going to endanger Assam under CAA cannot be good for Nagaland in particular. As much the adverse impact of CAA on Assam, the same amount of rippling adverse impact Nagaland is bound to face. Indeed, so long Assam remains free from unwanted influx, Nagaland remains safer from such danger. The moment Assam is conquered by the influx, Nagaland will be the first victim for obvious reasons. As of today, Nagaland remains the weakest and the most vulnerable State despite having the most decorated legal status. I even apprehend that the recent order of placing Dimapur District under the purview of ILP may possibly offer chance to selfish field employees of Govt. to convert the process into private goldmine to speak the least. Due to lack of integrity of the responsible people, Nagaland is on sale today.

Now, both the PDA led by the NDPP and the NPF had voted for CAB. Having voted for CAB was not accidental but incidental. The CAA is the most controversial law and only God knows what will be the consequences. The demographic changes in NE India may follow henceforth.

We all know that the two MPs from Nagaland are just a tiny drop of water in the ocean. Opposing and voting against the CAB by Nagaland MPs cannot derail the bill and yet registering protest and having voted against is different and having not done it is different. Since these political parties had supported the CAA, it is the responsibility of the voters to protect Nagaland from adverse consequences of the same henceforth particularly in the event of CAA turns into a tsunami. In the event of Nagaland being flooded by unwanted and unwelcomed people from outside endangering the future of our posterity, those from Nagaland who supported the CAB to become the law must not pass the buck to others.